Pseudo subfolders

Like many people here, I really wanted the organizational capability that would come with having subfolders. At first, I toyed around with using subtasks, but it just didn't feel right. What I am about to describe is likely to be seen as exactly the same functionally, but for me feels more appropriate.

In my adoption of GTD, there are a couple of items on toodledo which I simply do not use. One is priority, and the other is tags. There isn't much I could think of to do with priority, but tags was essentially a free for all. And it was while thinking about tags, that folders fell into place.

The reason I wanted subfolders was to group things together. All of my personal tasks, I would like under one grouping, with subgroups underneath. So, if I had my choice, I would have a personal folder, then within it would be my projects (Read these books, Redesign living room, Plan girlfriend's birthday party), then within each project folder would be the tasks. As it turns out, philosophically, tags are used to categorize or otherwise label things. In a sense, tags allow someone to put anything into multiple folders, but this is not what I use them for.

I created tags for my wide picture view (Personal, Finance, Work, SideJob, etc). Then for folders, I simply used the full project name. In addition to projects, I came up with generic verb-based folder names to lump my single-step tasks ("Maintain the credit I still have" for the Pay Utility Bill type of transactions).

Now, when I want to see what is going on in my Work file, I sort by Tags -> Folders -> Context, and I get an awesome bird's eyeview and somehow, my mind is at ease for not using subtasks to do the exact same thing.

Also, a minor point for me, is subtasks were nested below, whereas in this method, the task and the project to which it belongs are always on the same line. Apparently my memory is weak, as I always had to jump back up a few lines to re-read the project. With the tags, it's an easier glance a little bit to the right, as opposed to a random distance above.

And for those that care... you don't need to upgrade your account to be able to do this, either, so you can save a little bit of cash. Myself, I'd still pay because this site has paid for itself many times over to me. I can give them a little bit of money. Thanks guys!

Brilliant! I think you should receive a commission from Toodledo because I was about to jump ship. I don't understand why no software displays tasks like this. It is obvious, at least to me, that you should have main folders like Work, Personal, etc. and sub-folders listing the projects underneath, and subtasks to list the tasks under each project. Setting it up your way is the only way to do it here....congrats.

Brilliant! I think you should receive a commission from Toodledo because I was about to jump ship. I don't understand why no software displays tasks like this. It is obvious, at least to me, that you should have main folders like Work, Personal, etc. and sub-folders listing the projects underneath, and subtasks to list the tasks under each project. Setting it up your way is the only way to do it here....congrats.

Read my GTD post and you will see that I do something similar.

I have a folder called Projects and under that folder I have the projects parent task and under them with sub-task I have the individual steps.

Many of us are using it this way already, so I not sure if I follow what you are trying to describe.

You must enable them in "Fields & Functions Used" in your Account Settings.

Proximo, I think Richard was aware of the possibility of using subtasks, but it did not feel right to him. I had a setup somewhat like this when I first tried out Pocket Informant because it maps Tags to Calendars, so I redid my Tags like superfolders. I really didn't like it as much, but everyone has different preferences, and the flexibility to satisfy such diverse tastes is one of Toodledo's greatest strengths IMO.

You must enable them in "Fields & Functions Used" in your Account Settings.

Proximo, I think Richard was aware of the possibility of using subtasks, but it did not feel right to him. I had a setup somewhat like this when I first tried out Pocket Informant because it maps Tags to Calendars, so I redid my Tags like superfolders. I really didn't like it as much, but everyone has different preferences, and the flexibility to satisfy such diverse tastes is one of Toodledo's greatest strengths IMO.

<DIV class=quote>Brilliant! I think you should receive a commission from Toodledo because I was about to jump ship. I don't understand why no software displays tasks like this. It is obvious, at least to me, that you should have main folders like Work, Personal, etc. and sub-folders listing the projects underneath, and subtasks to list the tasks under each project. Setting it up your way is the only way to do it here....congrats.[/quote]

Read my GTD post and you will see that I do something similar.

I have a folder called Projects and under that folder I have the projects parent task and under them with sub-task I have the individual steps.

Many of us are using it this way already, so I not sure if I follow what you are trying to describe.[/quote]

I tried it that way but the default view is with everything expanded. I would like the parent tasks to be collapsed. The default view doesn't even show the child tasks indented under the parent tasks. I then have to manually collapse the parent tasks to see what is the child tasks. I hope that makes sense.

I originally did what you described using subtasks. I mentioned it in my first paragraph. But, it just didn't set right for me in my head because in my PHYSICAL reference file, every project is its own folder. I wanted to maintain the similar usage.

I also mentioned that I am probably describing how to do the exact same thing most people do with subtasks, but with tags. For me, this just works and flows better for me in my head.

I originally did what you described using subtasks. I mentioned it in my first paragraph. But, it just didn't set right for me in my head because in my PHYSICAL reference file, every project is its own folder. I wanted to maintain the similar usage.

I also mentioned that I am probably describing how to do the exact same thing most people do with subtasks, but with tags. For me, this just works and flows better for me in my head.

Richard,

I understand. We all have things that work and things that don't work so well for us.

I hope you find a solution. Toodledo is very customizable, so I am sure there can be a way that makes sense for you.

I setup Toodledo for what makes sense for me and I always come up with some other idea or way of doing things.

That is not a way to Get Things Done, so I am trying to not change my setup that much anymore. :-)

Like many people here, I really wanted the organizational capability that would come with having subfolders. At first, I toyed around with using subtasks, but it just didn't feel right. What I am about to describe is likely to be seen as exactly the same functionally, but for me feels more appropriate.

In my adoption of GTD, there are a couple of items on toodledo which I simply do not use. One is priority, and the other is tags. There isn't much I could think of to do with priority, but tags was essentially a free for all. And it was while thinking about tags, that folders fell into place.

The reason I wanted subfolders was to group things together. All of my personal tasks, I would like under one grouping, with subgroups underneath. So, if I had my choice, I would have a personal folder, then within it would be my projects (Read these books, Redesign living room, Plan girlfriend's birthday party), then within each project folder would be the tasks. As it turns out, philosophically, tags are used to categorize or otherwise label things. In a sense, tags allow someone to put anything into multiple folders, but this is not what I use them for.

I created tags for my wide picture view (Personal, Finance, Work, SideJob, etc). Then for folders, I simply used the full project name. In addition to projects, I came up with generic verb-based folder names to lump my single-step tasks ("Maintain the credit I still have" for the Pay Utility Bill type of transactions).

Now, when I want to see what is going on in my Work file, I sort by Tags -> Folders -> Context, and I get an awesome bird's eyeview and somehow, my mind is at ease for not using subtasks to do the exact same thing.

Also, a minor point for me, is subtasks were nested below, whereas in this method, the task and the project to which it belongs are always on the same line. Apparently my memory is weak, as I always had to jump back up a few lines to re-read the project. With the tags, it's an easier glance a little bit to the right, as opposed to a random distance above.

And for those that care... you don't need to upgrade your account to be able to do this, either, so you can save a little bit of cash. Myself, I'd still pay because this site has paid for itself many times over to me. I can give them a little bit of money. Thanks guys!

Doesn't it seem like if you set it up this way that you have to set the parent folder (personal, job, whatever) for every task? Logically it should be set for the subfolders/projects within that life area, so that you don't have to set it for every task within that area. Also, if the parent folders are tags, then it would be possible to have one task in a project tagged in a life area that is different than another task in that same project, which doesn't make sense as the parent folder isn't task dependant...

Don't get me wrong: I think the tag/folder solution is probably the best considering the options, maybe it's putting the parent folder in the name of the folder: so parent folder 'Personal' and folder 'Vacations' would be 'Personal - vacations'. Not very elegant... I'm not sure...